Thanks to all of you for entering the Nameberry Mother’s Day Contest. Now that the SSA lists are in, we are able to declare the winners–which turned out to be more complicated than we expected. Largely due to Emma jumping into first place–and not Isabella, which most of you predicted– and the surprise appearance of wild-card Chloe at #10, no one was able to come up with a perfect list.

　　In fact, very few of you made the Emma- Jacob combo your top picks. The two entrants who did (and are coincidentally evidence of the wide range of the nameberry world), and who also successfully predicted a large proportion of the other Top 20 names are:

　　CATHERINE, a 19-year-old Pennsylvania college student already obsessed with names (her current favorites are Rufus, Johannes, Daphne, Lucy and Alice),  and

　　DIANE, a volunteer doula living in Florida, who is a ‘self-proclaimed name nerd’ and grandmother to boys named Jordan and Ian.

　　The winners get an advance copy of our brand-new book, Beyond Ava & Aiden, along with signed copies of three other name guides.  Runners-up are  the five perceptive people who picked 18 of the 20 top names (though not necessarily in the proper order)–their names will be posted shortly.

　　Wondering what  the most common sticking points were? On the girls’ list, it was including Addison, Hannah, Madeline, Lily, and/or Grace; and for the boys, Noah, Andrew, and triplets Aiden, Brayden, and Jayden.

　　But if we want to affirm our baby naming acumen: in last week’s poll, 71% correctly predicted that Jacob would stay on top and Emily would not.

　　And in the unlikely event that you somehow missed  the official list, here are the Top Ten for each sex:

　　GIRLS:

　　EMMA

　　ISABELLA

　　EMILY

　　MADISON

　　AVA

　　OLIVIA

　　SOPHIA

　　ABIGAIL

　　ELIZABETH

　　CHLOE

　　BOYS

　　JACOB

　　MICHAEL

　　ETHAN

　　JOSHUA

　　DANIEL

　　ALEXANDER

　　ANTHONY

　　WILLIAM

　　CHRISTOPHER

　　MATTHEW